WHAT IS AN MTS APPRENTICESHIP?

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. 2 Timothy 2:2

A MTS Apprenticeship is two years of real-life training based within a church or a specialist ministry team. Apprenticeships are centred on prayer, Bible study and are designed to give you on the job experience and training prior to degree level theological study or an employed ministry role.

It is a 2 year, hands-on, full time ministry apprenticeship – and gives you the opportunity to ‘live the life’ of a full time gospel worker. A MTS apprenticeship will help you work out:

(i) how you’re wired and (ii) where you might plug in to grow God’s Kingdom in the future.

If a person wants to be a farmer long term, they don’t head off to Yanco Agricultural College as a first port of call. They need to head off to a farm and work alongside an experienced farmer for a couple of years. They need to live through a couple of annual cycles. They need to know what it is like to deliver lambs in the middle of the night, drive a harvester to bring in the grain before it is destroyed by rain and grapple with the blurred boundaries between work and rest.

WHAT DOES IT INVOLVE?

Being on a MTS Apprentice pathway involves a two year program based within a church or a specialist ministry team. The essence of MTS is learning through active participation in evangelism and Bible teaching, all under the leadership of a Trainer.

WHO ARE MTS APPRENTICESHIPS FOR?

The person asking, ‘What’s my future pathway in Gospel ministry?’

A MTS apprenticeship will help you work out:

(i) how you’re wired and (ii) where you might plug in to grow God’s Kingdom in the future.

If a person wants to be a farmer long term, they don’t head off to Yanco Agricultural College as a first port of call. They need to head off to a farm and work alongside an experienced farmer for a couple of years. They need to live through a couple of annual cycles. They need to know what it is like to deliver lambs in the middle of the night, drive a harvester to bring in the grain before it is destroyed by rain and grapple with the blurred boundaries between work and rest.

The person intending to go into full-time ministry, and wishing to prepare for it well

A person on the Team Leader pathway will undertake degree level theological study, and a person on the Team Member pathway will undertake diploma level theological study. A MTS apprenticeship provides the practical ministry skills and experience which complement, and make relevant, your future theological study – in short, the practical learning that can only be achieved by actually doing!

As a MTS Apprentice you would be trained and mentored by an experienced trainer, and provided with real ministry opportunities to learn and develop ministry skills. These are “safe” ministry opportunities as the apprentice’s involvement is conducted under the watchful supervision of his/her trainer.

The person seeking to step into ministry later in life

Many people look to serve in Gospel ministry later in life – perhaps the person has been retrenched, previously ran a busy house-hold which is now diminished in size and complexity, or perhaps they are intentionally looking for a career change into ministry – whatever the reason, their life-to-date has not adequately skilled or prepared them for a ministry role. These people are often highly skilled in other areas and have decades of business and/or life skills with which to enrich their future ministry.

An MTS apprenticeship is a great way to acquire the ministry skills, theological knowledge and practical experience necessary to enter paid or unpaid Gospel ministry later in life.

The person seeking to prepare for a ministry role that’s not in a church

There are many valuable ministry roles not directly connected with a church, which will yield fruit for the Kingdom. These include, but are certainly not limited to:

school chaplaincy

workplace/factory chaplaincy

high school SRE teacher

MTS is a great way to prepare for these ministries as you can study for Diploma in Theology or Ministry and at the same time acquire the ministry skills and practical experience necessary to be effective in these ministry roles.

Apprenticeship Pathways

MTS provides different apprentice training Pathways to support the diversity of people seeking to train for Gospel ministry.

Team Leader Apprenticeship

A two year full time hands-on apprenticeship for persons considered likely to lead a Ministry Team in the future. The Team Leader apprenticeship provides practical experience in a range of ministries, and apprentices are trained in accordance with the MTS Training Curriculum.

The Team Leader apprenticeship is designed for those who expect to follow up their apprenticeship with theology study at degree level or higher. Consequently, the Team Leader apprenticeship is designed to maximise the apprentice’s opportunity to gain practical ministry experience and skills, since they anticipate gaining deep theological training during their degree level theological studies which will follow their apprenticeship.

A Team Leader apprenticeships may be undertaken on a Scholarship (funded by tax deductible donations), or Curriculum (ie paid employee of a church or ministry) basis.

Team Member Apprenticeships

A two year full time hands-on apprenticeship for persons seeking to be a valuable Ministry Team Member in the future. The Team Member traineeship provides practical experience in a range of ministries.

The Team Member apprenticeship is designed for those who wish to undertake quality theological study and also gain practical ministry experience and skills. Consequently, the Team Member apprenticeship allocates sufficient time for the trainee to complete a Diploma of Theology (2yrs) or Advanced Diploma (3yrs) during their apprenticeship. At the completion of their 2 or 3 year apprenticeship, the apprentice is ready for full-time ministry as a valuable team member.

A number of theological training colleges provide quality diploma courses in theology and/or ministry. It is worth noting that the Timothy Partnership specialises in distance education (http://timothypartnership.com.au/diploma/) – making it especially attractive for apprentices not located in a capital city.

A Team Member apprenticeships may be undertaken on a Scholarship (funded by tax deductible donations), or Curriculum (ie paid employee of a church or ministry) basis.

MTW MTS Apprenticeship

MTW (Ministry Training for Women) is designed to prepare women for all types of ministry. With teaching and mentoring components, and the chance to discuss topics with other women, MTW is a tailored course that equips women to serve Christ in every sphere of life.

An MTW MTS Apprenticeship involves undertaking a two year program combining theological study with the opportunity to gain Gospel ministry experience through active participation in evangelism and Bible teaching, all under the care and guidance of a trainer. Apprentices will complete an Academic Studies in Theology Certificate (ASTC) through the Timothy Partnership and Christ College’s Ministry Training for Women (MTW).

As women lead busy lives, juggling multiple roles and responsibilities, the MTW MTS Apprentice has been designed to fit into the time-window of 9.30am to 2.30pm, 3 days per week, during school term time, plus church-based ministry on Sundays.

Wycliffe MTS Apprenticeship

The MTS-Wycliffe Apprenticeship combines theological study with cross-cultural training. Apprentices will spend approximately 350 hours per year, on average, on cross-cultural ministry training (eg. language and cultural training course, and an annual mission awareness tour) – this component will occur under the supervision of a Wycliffe Mentor.

An MTS-Wycliffe Apprenticeship involves undertaking a two year program combining theological study (Academic Studies in Theology Certificate [ASTC] through the Timothy Partnership) with the opportunity to gain Gospel ministry experience through active participation in evangelism and Bible teaching, all under the care and guidance of a trainer.

Vocational Bible College Scholarship Apprenticeship

Vocational Bible College Scholarship Apprenticeships are designed for persons who are often familiar with, and are more likely to thrive under, a Vocational Education style of training. This training is highly “hands-on” with the VET curriculum portion being presented by a teacher in a small class size and class room environment.

Vocational Bible College (VBC) Scholarship apprenticeships can be funded by tax deductible donations and are available for both Full Time and Part Time apprentices.

Scholarship apprenticeships

An MTS Scholarship is an academic scholarship, awarded “on merit”, to enable the recipient to undertake a government endorsed course of study. Team Leader apprentices will generally enrol in the Timothy Partnership ASTC (Academic Studies in Theology Certificate) course, while Team Member apprentices will usually enrol in a Diploma (or Adv Diploma) of Theology or Ministry.

Support for an apprentice’s scholarship can be raised by tax deductible donations from the sponsoring church’s community, as well as the apprentice’s own personal network of supporters. MTS applies a 15% Management and Support Fee to all scholarship donations received, with all remaining monies flowing through to benefit apprentices training with the sponsoring church or ministry. Donors are encouraged to express a preference for who they wish their donation to support, and MTS will pay high regard to the preference expressed by donors.

Tax deductibility is a significant benefit when seeking to raise support for scholarship apprentices. An example is provided below to illustrate this benefit:

A $10,000 non-tax deductible donation results in the donor being out-of-pocket $10,000.

A $10,000 tax deductible donation results in the donor being out-of-pocket only $6,600 as the donor will receive a $3,400 reduction in his/her tax payment to the ATO (assumes a modest marginal tax rate of 32% plus the 2% medicare levy).

A donor happy to be out-of-pocket by $10,000 in support of a scholarship apprentice, could donate $15,152 tax deductibly and this donation would only cost the donor $10,000 after the $5,152 reduction in their tax payment to the ATO is received.

For donors paying a marginal tax rate higher than 32%, the benefit of donating tax deductibly is commensurately larger.

The employment status of the apprentice in the church or ministry is that of a student placement in a workplace – that is, a volunteer. They are not an employee of the church or ministry, or of MTS.

As all scholarship are partly funded by the government due to the tax deductibility of donations, all scholarship recipients must be either an Australian citizen or have been granted permanent Australian Residency status.

Curriculum Apprenticeships

Churches and ministries can also choose to employ an apprentice – that is, the apprentice is included on the organisation’s payroll. The church or ministry must also pay Workers Compensation premiums and make employer Superannuation Contributions for the employed apprentice.

Curriculum apprentices must be assigned an endorsed trainer by their church or ministry and registered as an apprentice with MTS. Registration provides the following benefits:

Apprentice receives an invitation to attend the MTS apprentice training days

Apprentice receives an invitation to attend the annual national G8 MTS apprentice gathering

Training in accordance with the MTS Curriculum

The church or ministy can legally pay the apprentice a “training wage”, rather than the minimum wage

While MTS requires that the apprentice be trained in accordance with the MTS Curriculum (ensures the apprentice receives a rounded ministry training experience), there is no requirement by MTS for a Curriculum Apprentice to undertake formal theological training, though they may do so if they choose.

FWA (Fair Work Australia) Apprenticeships

Some Churches and ministries choose not to register their Curriculum Apprentice with MTS. Ministry apprentices not registered with MTS need to be paid the minimum wage (or more), with Workers Compensation premiums and employer Superannuation Contributions also needing to be paid for their apprentice.

MTS exercises no oversight of FWA apprenticeships, nor is there any expectation of any informal interaction or dialogue between the church employing an FWA apprentice and MTS, or an FWA Trainer and their Apprentice with MTS.

Centrelink benefits

Centrelink provides a range of benefits designed to support students – Austudy, Youth Allowance, Housing Assistance, etc. Apprentices undertaking a government endorsed course of study may apply for Centrelink benefits. Please note that enrolling in a government endorsed course doesn’t automatically entitle the student to Centrelink benefits – they must also personally qualify under Centrelink’s guidelines if the apprentice is to receive Centrelink benefits.

Many students in Australia receive Centrelink student benefits, and it is an important source of financial support for many Scholarship apprentices. Curriculum apprentices enrolled in an endorsed course of study are also eligible to apply for Centrelink benefits.